Fear is scarier than death

Ren Zu’s scheme to have the feathermen save his daughter has failed, since they chose death over giving up their freedom. He is left in perplexity, seeing no way to save either child. Self Gu tells him all living beings die because fate Gu left a trace inside the Door of Life and Death while searching for fairness Gu. It offers a way to save Verdant Great Sun alone: enter the door on a road avoiding that trace, then lead his son back out into daylight. Reluctant but out of options, he leaves Boundless Forest Samsara in Ordinary Abyss and sets out for the door. ^{ch. 944}

On the way he meets a beastman fleeing its own shadow in terror. It is too afraid to eat, rest, or stop. Ren Zu mocks such fear in so powerful a body, and a worm inside the beastman’s heart answers, naming itself fear Gu and blaming his ignorance of it for the scorn. Fear Gu lets the beastman go, leaving it weeping with joy, and flies into Ren Zu’s own heart instead, promising endless fear. ^{ch. 944}

Fear Gu makes Ren Zu afraid of wind, sunlight, leaves, snakes, and rain. In time he can barely move. Once it senses he means to reach the door, fear Gu turns him afraid of dying itself, and Ren Zu can no longer approach it at all. Self Gu tells him death is not the scary thing, only the fear in his own heart, and fear Gu agrees, boasting that fear is the one thing truly worth fearing. ^{ch. 944}